Nour El Ain is one of those records that can’t be avoided by those interested in the music of the Middle East and North Africa. The titutlar song, “Nour El Ain,” is played all the time, some thirty years after it was first released. I can hear in my dreams, “Habiiiibi, habiiiibi, habiiiibi, ya nour el ain.”

The sound here is characteristically Egyptian, and it’s a thoroughly shaʿbi sound. This is the people’s music, through and through.

While “Nour El Ain” is certainly the catchiest song on the album, the whole record is excellent.